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SUNRISE, FLA.— When the Maple Leafs weren’t talking about a playoff race during this road trip, they discussed rest and relaxation, and how those things could help keep the team strong and focused.

It was an advantage — all the sun, all the vitamin D — they had and intended to use.

But maybe — given a 7-2 trouncing at the hands of the Florida Panthers — it was a little too much of a good thing.

“You think you should be good. You think you should be rested. You think you should be jumping,” said coach Mike Babcock. “The bottom line is whatever we did, we didn’t handle it right. We had one day off and practice, so that’s not the end of the world. Whatever we did, we didn’t get prepared.

“As coaches, we have to look at it.”

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The Leafs — the team riding a three-game winning streak — looked sluggish. The Panthers — who’d dropped eight of their last nine coming in — had the jump.

“We didn’t skate good. We made unbelievable mistakes that didn’t help either goalie,” said Babcock. “Disappointing is the word. We’ve got to get out of here and get on track.”

The Panthers might have had a secret weapon in net in James Reimer, who was most definitely up to play his old team.

“You always want to play well and beat your old team. That’s across the board for any guy that gets traded,” said Reimer, who beat the Leafs for the first time. “We were playing a team we’re trying to catch, so you want to get those two points. It was more about winning the game.”

The Leafs didn’t think the rest and relaxation of Florida contributed to their bad start.

“We have people within our organization whose job is to make sure we’re ready,” said defenceman Morgan Rielly. “They do their jobs well. We had a good practice. We had a stretch (Tuesday) morning.

“This was on the players. We’re given every opportunity to be ready to compete and we came out and didn’t do our jobs very well.”

The only Leaf worth watching was Mitch Marner, who did his level best to carry the team on his small frame. The rest were mostly disinterested onlookers. Leo Komarov and Nikita Soshnikov scored for the Leafs.

“At times we had effort, guys want to win,” said Rielly. “But you’ve got to play the right way, to the team’s system. You’ve got to know what you’re doing.

“We’ve had meetings after meetings. When the puck drops, you have to be ready. You have to know what you’re doing, you know what they’re going to do. It’s about executing, and we didn’t do it.”

Jonathan Marchessault had two goals to lead the Florida attack. Keith Yandle, Colton Sceviour, Aleksander Barkov and Jussi Jokinen also scored for Florida. Thomas Vanek had four assists in a game for the first time in his career, tying a Panthers franchise record.

The Panthers were also in a must-win situation, having to beat the team it was pursuing for a playoff spot to help its own chances. A loss to Toronto would have been a dagger to the Panthers’ hopes.

The scoreboard did the Leafs no favours, with the Islanders retaking the second wild-card thanks to an overtime win over Carolina, and Tampa passing the Leafs with an overtime win over Ottawa. Toronto dropped to 10th in the Eastern Conference.

“I saw that,” said Rielly. “We know exactly what’s going on. We knew the importance of the game, and that adds to the disappointment of the effort. There are lots of good teams competing for not-so-many spots.

“An opportunity got away from us, and down the stretch we can’t let that happen again.”

There’s one game left on this trip: Thursday in Tampa.

“We got lots of time,” said centre Nazem Kadri. “All we have to do is string a few wins together and maybe get a little bit of help. Our fate is still in our hands.

“All we have to do is bounce back.”

The Lightning are taking Wednesday off. The Leafs will practise. Babcock —- who was not completely sold on the idea of rest for players — had a simple message for his team, who have had numerous days off and routinely skip morning skates.

“There’s a fine line between keeping the motor running and being away from the rink,” said Babcock. “The other thing that has to happen, if you don’t play good, you go to the rink. Period. It’s that simple. The ball is in their court. No one minds a little downtime as long as you’re ready to play when the puck is dropped at night.”

It was clear from the moments the doors opened at the BB&T Center that Leaf Nation had showed up for this March Break game in Florida.

There were Go Leafs Go chants louder than anything Panthers fans could chant. O Canada had more boisterous response than the Star Spangled Banner.

The only thing that didn’t show up were the Maple Leafs themselves, figuratively speaking. They trailed 1-0 after 18 seconds and 3-1 after the first 20 minutes.

It was an effort reminiscent of the Peter Horachek-era Leafs. And Horachek was in attendance, scouting for the New Jersey Devils.

Barkov scored the opener on a second effort, winning the draw, going to the net and outmuscling a Leaf defender for the quick lead.

Later, Sceviour zoomed past Nikita Zaitsev on the point on a Leaf power play, to score on a short-handed breakaway at 10:33. Zaitsev had fallen on the backcheck.

The only Leaf who really had a good first period was Marner, who drew two penalties, including the one that led to Leo Komarov’s power-play goal at 13:36.

But the Leafs surrendered a goal to Marchessault just 45 seconds later, and the Panthers had their two-goal cushion back going into the second period.

McElhinney replaced Andersen to start the second, and had no chance on Marchessault’s second goal, a tic-tac-toe passing play made possible when Rielly missed a chance to clear the zone.

Soshnikov scored the Leafs only goal of the second, but took a penalty on the ensuing play, leading to a goal by Jokinen and a 6-2 lead after 40 minutes.

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